So it comes as little suprise that only weeks after George Bush's "Islamo-fascists"
remark, Ratzinger is stirring it up in the War on Terror.

Here's a mainstream news account, which does not draw the full implications
of its simple analogy to the papacy of the late JP2. Think about this:

Quote:

Analysis: Pope's 'jihad' remarks a sign

By BRIAN MURPHY AP RELIGION WRITER Friday, September 15, 2006

...Benedict, they say, appears to increasingly view the West's confrontation
with radical Islam as a fateful moment in history that demands the
Vatican's moral authority - just as his predecessor, John Paul II, reshaped
the dimensions of the papacy by openly taking sides in the Cold War.

The risk for the Vatican is whether it will be perceived in the Muslim world
as part of a broader Western cultural and political
campaign against Islam....

The Rev. Robert Taft, a specialist in Islamic affairs at Rome's Pontifical
Oriental Institute, said it was unlikely the pope miscalculated how some
Muslims would receive his speech.

Pope Benedict XVI has said he is sorry that a speech in which he referred
to Islam has offended Muslims. In a statement read out by a senior
Vatican official, the Pope said he respected Islam and hoped Muslims
would understand the true sense of his words.

"We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not
recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal
one's own ego and one's own desires" - Ratzinger

Quote:

Ratzinger was Pope John Paul II's sidekick, confidante and enforcer. And
before becoming pope, he ran the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith. Best known by an older name: the Inquisition. He suppressed the
Liberation Theology movement --delaying the resurgence of the South
American poor seen today.

Ratzinger intervened in the 2004 US election campaign ordering bishops
to deny communion to abortion rights supporters including presidential
candidate John Kerry.

NAZI PAST HAUNTING CARDINAL

TODD VENEZIA. New York Post. New York, N.Y.: Apr 17, 2005. pg. 003

April 17, 2005 -- A "fuhrer" furor is dogging the papal candidacy of
Germany's top Roman Catholic cleric over revelations he was a
member of the Hitler Youth.

At one point, he guarded a factory where slaves from a concentration camp were forced to work. He was later shipped to Hungary, where he reportedly saw Jews persecuted.

"It was possible to resist, and those people set an example for others,"
recalled Elizabeth Lohner, 84. "The Ratzingers were young and they had
made a different choice."

On January 31st 1998 Cardinal Ratzinger received honorary doctorates from the University of Navarra. The doctorates were conferred by Bishop Javier Echevarria, Prelate of Opus Dei and Chancellor of the University.
http://www.kathsurf.at/lehramt/lehramt/ratzing.html

Carlo Calvi first met Paul Marcinkus in the late 1970s. Marcinkus had come to visit Calvi's father at the Calvi family home in the Bahamas. Marcinkus, Calvi says, was in the Bahamas for the wedding of the daughter of one of his closest banking associates, Michele Sindona.

Sindona was later convicted in the United States on dozens of counts of fraud. In 1984, Sindona was extradited to Italy where he was sentenced to life in prison. Two years later Sindona was murdered in prison.

In 1981, Carlo Calvi says, he found a letter written by Marcinkus in 1978 to his father. The letter, Calvi alleges, was evidence that Marcinkus was involved personally with money laundering. Carlo Calvi says he turned the document over to United Nations investigators.

But, as usual, Marcinkus avoided prosecution in the matter. Archbishop Marcinkus refused to talk to investigators about the issue, and the Vatican protected him.

Another issue about which Marcinkus has never spoken was the death of John Paul I, who was pope for 33 days in 1978 after the death of Marcinkus' dear friend, Pope Paul VI.

In the early stages of his 33 days as pope, John Paul I, Albino Luciani, promised a thorough investigation of the growing scandal involving Marcinkus, Robert Calvi, Michele Sindona and the Vatican Bank.

As David Yallop documents in his book, John Paul I wanted Marcinkus removed immediately from his position with the Vatican Bank.

But days before that was to happen, John Paul I died in his bed from what was officially described as an accidental overdose of medication. The pope's body was embalmed that same day, a bizarre breach of protocol that also meant no autopsy could be performed to determine if poison might have been the cause of death.

The Catholic church isn't relevent to most educated westerners, especially since TV and psuedo sience became popular. It's just another spooky NGO these days but with a very long history and lots of "assets". It's sad that so many people, even educated people are still getting sucked into the Jesus cult.

I don't have any problem with this pope or with what he said. Also, I like and support the Catholic Church and am of the opinion that it is the NWO that wants to destroy the Catholic Church. Then again, since Vatican II it has not really been the Catholic Church. I am very disturbed to see not only the head of the Bush Crime Family but also SlickWilly kneeling at the bier of John Paul II. That's real spooky.

The NWO wants to use the Catholic Church for its own machinations, and to assist in maintaining its power over the third world and its resources.

The Catholic Church is fine when it fosters religious tolerance, feeding the poor and the liberation of oppressed peoples. But it needs to stay away from sectarianism, such as this Pope recent remarks reinforce. In fact he has as Fintan suggests casts himself at the forefront of the NWO’S diabolical schemes to create a war of civilizations.

I hope the Muslim overly sensitive- hard heads don’t make this another incident like the cartoons. They would be just playing in the hands of the scum bags of the NWO who want to spread division and strife.
Create
Problem, reaction, solution.

This though will let us know about this Pope: if he apologizes as he should, then he may be all right, but if he doesn’t (and he better do it fast) he will show himself as being down with the NWO.

DamianFlynn: The Catholic church isn't relevent to most educated westerners....
It's just another spooky NGO these days....

LOL, but a "spooky NGO" with a huge cult following, even among educated westerners.

Quote:

MichaelC: it is the NWO that wants to destroy the Catholic Church....
I am very disturbed to see not only the head of the Bush Crime Family
but also Slick Willy kneeling at the bier of John Paul II.

Well, Slick Willy IS a member of the Bush Crime Family!
And yes, it's pretty "spooky" --in the Intelligence sense.

The NWO undermining of the Catholic Church is a clever policy. It is aimed
at putting pressure on the rank and file, demoralizing them, rendering them
socially irrelevant.

That has a lot to do with the potential threat that the ordinary rank and file
might politically oppose the objectives of the NWO. A Church which actually
took on board the teachings (See Liberation Theology) could be a potent
force for resisting growing global social inequity.

Meanwhile, even as they undermine the bottom layer, they are firmly
in control of the top layer --with two NWO popes in a row.

when it fosters religious tolerance, feeding the poor and the liberation of oppressed peoples

This is exactly the kind of stuff that turns people off and drives them AWAY from the Catholic Church. The beauty of the Roman Catholic traditions(in which I was lucky enough to be raised) is that the rituals, statues, & mythologies all serve as meditational devices - enabling us to transcend material obsessions. To politicize the Church and make it 'earth-bound' is not just wrong, it is destructive to the whole purpose.

when it fosters religious tolerance, feeding the poor and the liberation of oppressed peoples

This is exactly the kind of stuff that turns people off and drives them AWAY from the Catholic Church. The beauty of the Roman Catholic traditions(in which I was lucky enough to be raised) is that the rituals, statues, & mythologies all serve as meditational devices - enabling us to transcend material obsessions. To politicize the Church and make it 'earth-bound' is not just wrong, it is destructive to the whole purpose.

Look I don’t want to get in a theological dispute, but I have no problem with the rituals of the Church, none at all. In fact I have no problems with rituals in any religion, if that helps them, good.

Anyway didn’t Jesus say feed the poor and be just to people? Is that a sin?
Something about a rich man getting to heaven when a camel gets through the eye of a needle.

My problem is when they (any religion) use their belief to impose on others.
It just so happens that the most guilty religious groups doing this are Christians and Muslims historically

Seems like the "controversy" is now being scaled back
-once the main goal of pitting Christians against Muslims
has been achieved. Looks like this was more designed to
play into Muslim fears of crusading Christians.

Quote:

Pope's apology 'sufficient': Muslim Brotherhood

September 17, 2006, - SABCNews.com

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said Pope Benedict had apologised sufficiently today for remarks on Islam that angered many in the Muslim world. "We consider that the new statements represent a retreat from what went before," Mohammed Habib, the Brotherhood deputy leader, said.

"We can consider them a sufficient apology, even if we had wanted the Pope to outline his ideas and vision of Islam," said Habib, whose opposition Islamist group has inspired similar movements across the Arab world.

The Pope said he was "deeply sorry" at the anger caused by his remarks on Islam and said a quote he used from a medieval text about holy wars did not reflect his personal thoughts. The Pope had referred to criticism of the Prophet Mohammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus.

Inquiring Pope's personal views

The emperor said everything Mohammad brought was evil "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". Habib said: "(The Pope) says that it does not represent his personal views. We would like to know what these personal views are."

The Pope had been under pressure to issue a personal apology after the speech last week in Germany sparked fury among Muslims. The Vatican issued a statement yesterday saying he regretted the impact of his comments. - Reuters

The NYT had signalled this with an
editorial calling for a "deep" apology.

Quote:

Editorial
The Pope’s Words

September 16, 2006

There is more than enough religious anger in the world. So it is particularly disturbing that Pope Benedict XVI has insulted Muslims, quoting a 14th-century description of Islam as “evil and inhuman.”

Muslim leaders the world over have demanded apologies and threatened to recall their ambassadors from the Vatican, warning that the pope’s words dangerously reinforce a false and biased view of Islam. For many Muslims, holy war — jihad — is a spiritual struggle, and not a call to violence. And they denounce its perversion by extremists, who use jihad to justify murder and terrorism.

The Vatican issued a statement saying that Benedict meant no offense and in fact desired dialogue. But this is not the first time the pope has fomented discord between Christians and Muslims.

In 2004 when he was still the Vatican’s top theologian, he spoke out against Turkey’s joining the European Union, because Turkey, as a Muslim country was “in permanent contrast to Europe.”

A doctrinal conservative, his greatest fear appears to be the loss of a uniform Catholic identity, not exactly the best jumping-off point for tolerance or interfaith dialogue.

The world listens carefully to the words of any pope. And it is tragic and dangerous when one sows pain, either deliberately or carelessly. He needs to offer a deep and persuasive apology, demonstrating that words can also heal.

Another Thing the Pope has done is assist in the propaganda effort to keep the anti-abortion party in office by brining up the fake war of civilization.

The western tricknologist always know that they can any time they want fan the flames of the emotionalist religious obsessive’s in Islam enough to always manipulate them to overreact and play into the hands of the west’s scams.

I personally am not waiting to hear what the Pope says about politics and other religions, but others do.

MichaelC, if he's not supposed to get involved in money matters, why get involved in politics at all? And why consistently right wing politics? When Archbishop Romero was pleading against death squads, torture, terrorism inflicted on the poor in Latin America, why did the Pope side with the death squads, torturers, and fascists? Doesn't that do harm to the pure mysticism too?

Having food and clean water, resisting being driven out of one's home, all this does not constitute materialism, love for material wealth. The Vatican constitutes material wealth, including --- from what I understand --- Nazi wealth and other plundered wealth back through history.

The religion itself is fine. I work with a Catholic Peace Group at times. They are the best people.

When nuns were raped and tortured by the CIA -- actually CIA outsourced projects -- for having the gall to speak up for their suffering congregation, where did John Paul II stand?

Apparently, the same place Benedict stood on the Nazis and "The Jewish Question".

Maybe the Jews (not the Zionist Industry but actual Euro Jews who suffered) were overly sensitive about Hitler and Himmler and Goebbel remarks. Lastly, there's a lot to be said for dying with dignity and faith, but there's also a lot to be said practically about refusing to endorse evil and a faith-filled resistance to evil.